A trial on shunts used to direct blood flow to the lungs, led by researchers at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, will lead to better outcomes for kids worldwide born with hypoplastic left heart ...

Infants born with complex congenital heart disease are not only at risk for serious heart-related complications, but also for developing a deadly bowel disease, regardless of the type of surgical intervention they receive ...

Parents and doctors have known for a long time that children with Down syndrome tend to grow more slowly and are considerably shorter than most other children. But pediatricians needing to record growth milestones at regular ...

What: To help speed the translation of scientific discoveries into usable treatments in congenital heart disease, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health launched the Bench ...

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common birth defects in humans, affecting 8 per 1000 live births with one third of affected children requiring intervention in early infancy. Increasing numbers of survivors combined ...

Heart function significantly improved in children and young adults with single-ventricle congenital heart disease who have had the Fontan operation following treatment with sildenafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Children born with certain heart defects have impaired blood flow from the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery leading to the lungs, requiring implanted devices (known as right-ventricular outflow tract ...

Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have traced the evolution of the four-chambered human heart to a common genetic factor linked to the development of hearts in turtles and other reptiles.

Congenital heart defect

A congenital heart defect (CHD) is a defect in the structure of the heart and great vessels of a newborn. Most heart defects either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern, although other defects affecting heart rhythm (such as long QT syndrome) can also occur. Heart defects are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths.